To make this 25-minute pasta dish that uses practically pantry-exclusive ingredients, olive oil and garlic go into a cold pan and warm up together to let their flavors meld and infuse. Then pasta water gets tossed in—not just for a splash of liquid, but to become part of the sauce and stop the garlic from getting darker. Add a little fresh chile, toss in the noodles to coat, grate some Parmesan on top, and you have an easy dinner in the bowl.

Directions

Instructions Checklist

Step 1

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season generously with salt. Stir in spaghetti and cook until slightly less than al dente, about 2 minutes less than package directions. Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain.

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Step 2

Meanwhile, add garlic and oil to a cold large skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is just golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add sage and chile; cook 1 minute more. Stir in 1/2 cup pasta water and a few grinds of pepper. Increase heat to high and cook, swirling skillet occasionally, until reduced by about half, 2 to 3 minutes. Add pasta; toss to coat.

Step 3

Remove skillet from heat, add cheese, and toss vigorously, adding more pasta water as needed to create a creamy sauce. Season with salt and pepper and serve, with basil leaves and more cheese scattered over top.

Cook's Notes

Fresh chile adds heat and delicate flavor, but you can remove the seeds if you prefer less spice.

Reviews(9)

Anonymous

Rating: Unrated

03/19/2009

I added 3 cloves of garlic, minced. I left the garlic in, but it still could've used more garlic and chile. The lemon zest and juice added a nice tang.

Anonymous

Rating: Unrated

02/20/2009

to all the folks making fun of the editors for using the word chile, get a dicitionary! Chile can be the country and also the pepper.

Anonymous

Rating: Unrated

02/19/2009

Why would you remove the garlic from the noodles? And exactly how would you remove crushed garlic from it? Someone needs to do a better job of editing :) and LOL at chile :) If my friends make this for me, I will have to ask if they dug through my food to remove the garlic :)

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Anonymous

Rating: Unrated

02/18/2009

Ha ha ha... No... it' just that "chile" is different from "chili", and this recipe calls for chile, right?

Anonymous

Rating: Unrated

02/18/2009

Were you proposing to incorporated the entire country of Chile in this recipe?

Anonymous

Rating: Unrated

02/18/2009

I have been making this since I was 18 my grandmother called it pasta con piselli which is pasta with peas=) She put a ton more garlic though and cold peas with plenty of parmesan, salt and olive oil. Try it cold with the peas it's yummy!

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Anonymous

Rating: Unrated

02/17/2009

This is a favorite here. I've been fixing this for years. Lots of olive oil, garlic and parm cheese and the lemon is a great touch. - yummy. Whenever I have some steamed broccoli left over, I'll add that too. This seems to go well with angel hair or a thinner pasta although I've made it with fettuccini many times as well. Great use for left-over pasta, too, if there's such a thing as left-over pasta!

Anonymous

Rating: Unrated

02/17/2009

I make this pasta often, almost the exact same recipe but without the lemon, even my kids love it, sounds yummy with lemon, next time i will try it like this, don't know why I hadn't thought of it before!!!